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Denmark school sentenced for fatal boat accident

Updated at: 02/01/2013 12:07 PM
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(AP) COPENHAGEN, Denmark - A Danish boarding school has been fined 250,000 kroner ($45,500) and its principal given a suspended 60-day prison sentence for a tragic rowing trip for teenagers in which a teacher drowned.

A court said Friday that the Lundby school management pleaded guilty to negligence after it emerged that basic safety regulations had been violated and several students admitted they were poor swimmers.

In February 2012, two teachers and 13 teenagers sailed out on the Praestoe fjord, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Copenhagen, where the water was just above freezing.

The boat capsized, gym teacher Michael Joergensen died and seven teenagers had to be put in induced comas for treatment. Several still suffer from disorders due to the accident, including epilepsy.